Here's an interesting tax angle from a UK BB that is probably...

Here's an interesting tax angle from a UK BB that is probably just as relevant to Australian conditions -

Oilhero
Observation

	Column 1	Column 2
0	Opinion:	No Opinion
1	Price:	9.63

Options
Today 08:40
As an impartial observer but someone whose professional career is in legal and tax advice for investors and company owners can I please expand on why options are exercised. Most options have a fixed term to be exercised whereby the holder of the option has the right at any point to exercise them. In 99.9% of situations the holder chooses to exercise the option when they believe something significant is going to happen to the company the options are held over. This is typically driven by tax reasons as the exercise of the option (income) is generally taxed at a higher rate than the sale of full ordinary shares (capital). Thus the holder ensures they own the shares whereby they pay the higher rate of tax on the option price but thereafter pay a lower rate of tax on the growth of the share thereafter (if they choose to sell of course). In other words, this is not negative. Hope this helps!